Did you know your Android phone can also double as a remote control for your desktop PC or laptop? The only requirement is that both your phone and PC should share the same Wi-Fi connection.
Follow the simple steps below to shut down and reboot your PC from an Android phone. You can be in another room or even the front yard, in fact as far as the Wi-Fi signal goes.
While there are many apps that promise to convert an Android phone into a PC remote, few are as effective as Asus Smart Gesture app, which is our focus of discussion.
Download the Asus Smart Gesture App
As a first step, install the Remote Link (PC Remote) app by Asus. The app contains all the instructions to be followed which have been covered in this guide.
Also read: How to Sync Your Work Between Your Android Phone and Windows
Set Up Your Windows PC
On your PC, go to the relevant Asus link, and it will automatically download a zip file of the remote link app. Click on the .exe file to continue with the program installation.
Soon, you will be guided through the installation steps. It’s an easy installation that shouldn’t take long.
Once the app is installed on your computer, you will get a system alert on the right tray.
Open the homescreen and check the option “Enable remote link in my PC.” It will require you to provide the app with administrator permissions. You can connect to the mobile app with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Establish a connection between PC and Android Phone
Next, you need to sync the downloaded Android app with the PC program. Open the mobile app and select “Wi-Fi” followed by “search device.” You can also use Bluetooth if both the laptop and the phone are on the same Bluetooth network.
On your PC you should be able to access the remote link on the system tray. Otherwise, the connection will not establish properly.
You should be able to locate your desktop PC or laptop on the mobile app. This can only happen over a common Wi-Fi connection. Make your selection now.
After you see the smart gesture screen, you can begin to control the PC/laptop using the Power button.
In the next step there are five options to choose from: Restart, Shutdown, Sleep, Hibernate and Logoff. In this case we have chosen “Restart.”
The mobile app screen will prompt you to confirm your selection with an “Are you sure?” message.
The PC will now automatically restart as per your app instruction. In the same way, you could have given the command for a shutdown, sleep, hibernation or logout.
Also read: 6 of the Best Android Emulators to Run Android on Windows
Additional Features
Asus Smart Gesture app also allows you to control PowerPoint presentations and media files from a distance. For this, you should run the PowerPoint in F5 mode and use the “L” and “R” app inputs to change the slides.
The PowerPoint slides can be easily previewed and changed after a simple synchronization.
Summary
While there are a few other apps that can shut down or reboot your PC from Android, Asus Smart Gesture has extra options to sleep, logoff or hibernate the system, and manage PowerPoint files.
Do you enjoy operating a computer, television or other electronic devices using a mobile app? Please let us know your opinion on this.
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